This invention relates to computing the scale sytems of the general type disclosed in Allen et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,557,353. Such computing scale systems have a scale, a label printer, and a computer fabricated from discrete components. Such scale systems are widely used in the food merchandising trade and may be used in combination with indexing and label application systems as shown in Treiber U.S. Pat. No. 3,732,966 or with automatic wrapping machines as disclosed in Treiber U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,098 or Treiber et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,585,784.
Such prior art computing scale systems are flexible and versatile in their operation, but these scales are ordinarily constructed for a specific type of application. If it is desired to convert the scale from one application to another it is often times necessary to modify the configuration of the computer. There are now available integrated circuit microcomputers which may be easily programmed to do a large number of tasks, and it has become desirable to further increase the capabilities of the above mentioned prior art scale systems by usage of such computers. It has now been found that significantly improved operation as well as added versatility and new operating modes may be achieved by such a combination as hereinafter described.